Hot bowls and hot weather were the order of the day when members returned to the greens at Yamba Women’s Bowling Club recently. There were some terrific tussles in the first two rounds of the Club Championship Pairs commencing on Tuesday 11 and Thursday 13 January, which saw the four semi-finalists decided. In the semis being played on Tuesday 18 Sonia Graham/Robyn McPherson play Pam Conley/Ros Dickson, while Kaye Mason/Wendy Ballantyne take on Lorraine Asbury/Denise Burey for the right to contest the final set down for Thursday 20. Sonia and Robyn made hard work of making the semis with two one shot wins in both their games. Their first-round win against Ruth Fletcher/Judy Button was a battle all through. After an even start, Sonia and Robyn then strung together 10 shots in 5 ends to jump out to a 14-8 lead. Not to be denied, Ruth and Judy came storming back and hit the front 15-17 on the second last end. Drawing on their experience, Sonia and Robyn snatched the two shots they needed to force the 19th end and then snared the one shot they needed to win 18-17. In their second-round game, they prevailed over the highly-credentialed Judy Abbott and Cathryn Aitchison in a very low scoring game, 14-13, despite a late come back from their opponents. Surging from 9-14 down on the 15th, Judy and Catherine went into the last at 11-14. On a close measure, they almost forced the extra end, but went down 13-14. In their first-round game, Judy and Catherine had another great finish to win 21-15 over Margaret Durante and Barb Cross after being all square at 15-all on 15 ends. Sonia and Robyn’s opponents in the semis, Pam Conley and Ros Dickson also had two close tough games last week. In the first round, they recovered from a slow start to account for Judy Pryor and Noelene Smith 14-11. Then defeated Helen Scott and Margaret Abbott 15-13 in a game they always led but were never far enough in front to be comfortable. In their first round, Helen and Margaret had a tussle with Ros Moore and Cheryl Deveny but picking up two fours on the 12th and 13th ends resulted in a good win, 17-10. Kaye and Wendy were fortunate to get through their first-round game against the formidable pairing of Helen Atkinson and Chris Cole, when they set up their 18-17 win with a withering 12-0 lead after 4 ends. But with plenty of ends to do so, Helen and Chris struck top form and almost snatched victory in what was a great high quality game. Then in the second round Kaye/Wendy took on another strong pair in Joan Scadden and defending champ, Kerry Pedder. This was a very even game of tight heads and after 13 ends Kaye/Wendy led 15-12. From there though they put the foot down, scoring 12 shots in the next 4 ends to win 27-12. In the first round, Kerry and Joan had eliminated Bev Shatte and Gloria Davis with their own strong finish. After leading 8-7 on 11 ends, Joan/Kerry scored 15 unanswered shots to lead 23-7 on 16, and went on to win 23-9. Lorraine Asbury and Denise Burey won their way to the semi after a bye in the first round and a strong win in the second over Wynn Bell and Marie Stone. They were always in control of this game despite the best efforts of their opponents, and through fine draw bowling led 16-3 after 8 ends. Their tenacious opponents never gave in, but were stymied at every turn, with the final score 25-12. Wendy Ballantyne